First Niagara Appoints New CIO

First Niagara Financial Group (FNFG) in Buffalo, N.Y., has named a Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) executive as its chief information officer.

Inder Koul will be responsible for developing and implementing all information technology strategy and initiatives to serve First Niagara's more than 6,000 employees and customers across four states, the $35.1 billion-asset company said Wednesday. He will be based in Buffalo.

"Inder is a business-minded CIO with proven leadership skills that align extremely well with our future plans," Gary Crosby, First Niagara's chief operating officer, said in a news release. "As we continue to build and enhance a comprehensive suite of products and services for our customers in all lines of business, technology is a key enabler of that strategy."

At Huntington, Koul most recently served as the CIO for the Columbus, Ohio, bank's commercial, auto finance and corporate services groups and as the director of the enterprise project office. Prior to Huntington, he was with Bank of America (BAC) for seven years in a variety of senior executive positions.

First Niagara also said that Jeff Semonovich was promoted to managing director of enterprise services and IT program governance. He will report to Koul.

Prior to this new role, Semonovich served as the company's solutions delivery director since 2010. Before joining First Niagara, he was senior vice president of information systems with PNC Financial Services Group (PNC).